The University of Sheffield
The School of Education

Laurie Petch, C. Psychol., MSc, MA, PGCE, BA (Oxon)
Lecturer in Educational and Child Psychology

Photograph of Laurie Petch

Tel: +44 (0)114 222 8110
Fax: +44 (0)114 279 6236
Email: laurie.petch@sheffield.ac.uk
Room: 8.09

Research Interests

Billington (2006) asks: How do we speak of children? How do we speak with children? How do we write about children? How do we listen to children? How do we listen to ourselves when working with children? Phenomenological ways of thinking, researching and writing are uniquely equipped to answer these and related questions. Such patterns of thinking include existential and post-existential analyses of critical aspects of theory and praxis for children on the cusp of education and psychology. Laurie’s research aims at a renewal of each aspect of practice in educational psychology via phenomenological inquiry with and for children, particularly those disadvantaged by processes and approaches which often mask or undermine their experiences. This research begins with direct engagement and intervention with children and moves outwards from there to consider, in turn: consultation, assessment, supervision and administration, professional and organisational development while keeping a reflexive eye on the research process itself. At present, he is engaged in research evaluating the implementation of existential group intervention for children’s anxiety.

Accordingly, Laurie specialises in phenomenological research methods, including descriptive phenomenology, hermeneutic approaches, such as Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and narrative phenomenological work with children, young people, families and schools. His particular concern is to keep critical analyses in educational psychology grounded in the lifeworld of children and young people themselves, to maintain a sense of the person and of agency in such work. Laurie has conducted research in Canada and the UK and has a strong interest in developing international collaborations further. In addition, he is interested in the politics and practice of research synthesis, including meta-analysis, and how this affects policy and the experience and actions of psychologists in the field.

His published work includes co-authored chapters on bullying in domestic contexts and between siblings and he has presented at conferences in the UK, North America and mainland Europe. Most of Laurie’s work to date has arisen from his work as a practicing educational and child psychologist and school counsellor in the UK and Canada. His inter-disciplinary interests include dialogue with philosophy , psychiatry and psychoanalysis. He is a member of the Sheffield Centre for the Study of Children, Families and Learning Communities.

Teaching

Laurie has taught in a wide variety of areas including: assessment, therapeutic intervention, whole-population approaches to educational and child psychology and supervision. The majority of his teaching to date has been for the Doctor of Educational and Child Psychology (DEdCPsy) course, the University’s HPC-approved and BPS-accredited initial training programme for practitioners. He has also taught on the Doctor of Educational Psychology (DEdPsy) ‘top-up’ doctorate for those in the field who trained at Masters level. In addition, he has contributed towards a module for the new BA in Education, Culture and Childhood.

Recent Publications

Naylor, P. B., Petch, L., & Ali, P. A. (2011). Domestic violence: bullying in the home. In C. P. Monks & I. Coyne (Eds.), Bullying in different contexts (pp. 87-112). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Naylor, P. B., Petch, L., & Williams, J. V. (2011). Sibling abuse and bullying in childhood and adolescence: Knowns and unknowns. In C. Barter & D. Berridge (Eds.), Children behaving badly? Peer violence between children and young people. Chichester, West Susssex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

Selected Conference, Seminar and Workshop Presentations

Other professional and scholarly activities

Personal Doctoral Thesis Supervision

'Utilising Forum Theatre to elicit and advocate for the voice of the child in schools'

‘Evidence-based practice in educational and child psychology: A Q-methodology study’

Other

Laurie is a Chartered Psychologist and is registered to practice with the Health Professions Council. He currently practices within the East Midlands region, undertaking a range of work including: consultation, assessment, direct intervention, training/ organisational development, administration and research. Previously, he taught in primary, secondary and special schools. His first degree was in English Language and Literature (Lincoln College, Oxford University). He later studied at the Westminster Pastoral Foundation, the Institute of Education (University of London) and the University of Nottingham. His PhD was previously supervised by Dr Paul Naylor, and Professors Digby Tantam and Emmy van Deurzen, while he is currently supervised by Professor Cathy Nutbrown in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of Sheffield.